As August began, exhibitors were gearing up for an eventful month. Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan they were expected to do roaring business. Unfortunately, both films failed to entice viewers. The exhibition sector was still as hopeful as Vijay Deverakonda’s liger promised to be a fun, mass entertainer. However, the word of mouth was appalling. Although it continued over the weekend, it crashed on Monday.
While Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan and Liger fail, theater owners close the screens until Brahmastra is released; Manoj Desai temporarily shuts down Galaxy cinema
These three movies were expected to dominate some of the screens in multiplexes. Due to their subpar performance, the theaters had no choice but to reduce the number of performances. Meanwhile, other movies like Anurag Kashyap’s thriller dobaaraathe hollywood movie no etc also failed to attract the public. As a result, several theaters have decided to partially shut down the screens. Many already have reduced shows.
An exhibition industry source said: “When most films are not running, it becomes difficult to keep so many screens operational. Unfortunately, many theaters can’t shut down the screens because they have the ad revenue for the week. So this week they reduced the number of shows per screen. Beginning Friday, September 2, some multiplexes will close some screens for the week.”
Akshaye Rathi, a film exhibitor and distributor, explains: “There are two ways to stay in the green. One is to increase revenue and the other is to reduce spending. While films are not doing well and films with a big ticket didn’t show up until the release of Brahmastra on September 9, many exhibitors are finding different ways to get through such lean patches by minimizing costs. That could be by stopping the operations altogether. While there are salaries to be paid, at least the operating costs are significantly reduced. Meanwhile, some are reducing the number of shows. Instead of running the show with a minimal occupancy that doesn’t even allow you to pay the cost of running that show, it’s better to run a limited number of shows.
The G7 multiplexes in Mumbai, popularly known as Gaiety-Galaxy, have already shut down one theater, albeit temporarily. It consists of a Gaiety with almost 1000 seats and approx. Galaxy with 800 seats. Galaxy has been kept closed for almost a week as by the way ligerthere is no other film that could fill such a large room.
When contacted, Manoj Desai, Executive Director, G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema thundered, “kya karine? koi image hello nahi hai. Even next week there is no movie. I’ll have to see what to do and if I should keep both Gaiety and Galaxy closed until September 9th.”
Kiritbhai T Vaghasia, who runs The Friday Cinema in Surat, said: Bollywood Hungama“Next week there is only one major release called a Gujarati movie Hey Kem Chho London. There will be no Hindi movie on September 2. We are thinking of canceling the morning shows. Our shows start at 11am or 12pm. There’s no point in having morning shows as attendance would be zero. Or if only 1 or 2 tickets are booked, we have to refund the money. Sometimes the customers get angry and demand that we start the show. To avoid such awkward situations, it is better not to schedule a show before 11 a.m..”
Kiritbhai also added: “Hadi liger had good reports it would have had a clean run for two weeks. We, the exhibitors, would also have breathed calmly.”
However, Devang Sampat, CEO of Cinepolis India, said: “Ups and downs are very common and it happens all over the world. Running a cinema hall means fixed costs. The manpower is fixed and so is your rent. The only thing you save is electricity. But the electricity costs are such that it is not feasible to run a show if less than 10 tickets have been sold. However, we always have more than ten patrons in each show. So we don’t believe in canceling shows. We believe in continuing to exhibit content.”
Puneet Gupta, AVP – Corporate Communications, Inox Leisure Limited, stated in agreement: “We do not (cancel or close screens). We have enough content.”
High expectations of Brahmastra
There will be no major Hindi movie on Friday, September 2. What will keep the theaters going is the sleep hit Karthikeya 2, which will be the dominant film in the fourth week. The other remaining releases that should do well are the Marathi movie Daagdi Chaawl 2the Gujarati movie Fakt Mahilao Maate and the Hollywood movie, Top Gun: Maverick. The extended version of Spider-Man: No Way Homethe Hindi dubbed version of Dulquer Salmaan-Mrunal Thakur’s Telugu movie, Sita Ramamand the re-release of Hollywood classic ET (only in IMAX) will also be released in cinemas and exhibitors hope it will find few buyers. But whether it will be enough to bring in the desired profits remains to be seen.
That’s why all eyes are on Brahmastra, which comes out next week. Akshaye Rathi said:Brahmastra hopefully people get back into the cinemas in large numbers. There is also Vikram Vedha on Sept 30.” Devang Sampat opined: “Start with Brahmastrathe lineup looks pretty strong.”
G7 has often played big movies in both Gaiety and Galaxy. When asked if he will follow the same trend for Brahmastrareplied Manoj Desai, “nahi. ek theater mein chal jaaye, bahut badi bath hai!”
Also Read: BREAKING: Brahmastra’s Prebooking Begins in US; performances from Thursday 8 September from 5 p.m
More Pages: Raksha Bandhan Box Office Collection, Raksha Bandhan Movie Review
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